Mauricio Pochettino confirms he would like to return to former club

Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that ‘one day’ he would like to return to Tottenham, six years on from leaving north London.

The Argentine spent over five years at Spurs from May 2014 until his dismissal in November 2019.

It may have been a stint which yielded no silverware, but Tottenham reached a Champions League final under Pochettino and were, at times, genuine Premier League title contenders.

After his departure. Pochettino had some time out of the game before taking over at Paris Saint-Germain. He then had a short stint at Chelsea and is now in charge of the USA national team.

He is set to lead USA into their home World Cup next year but he is already flirting with options beyond that, stating that he would like to return to Tottenham in the future.

Pochettino told Sky Sports: ‘Look, when I left the club I always remember one interview I said I would like one day to come back to Tottenham and that is of course…I am in the USA, I am not going to no, I’m not going to talk about that.

‘But what I said then still after six years or five years, I still feel in my heart that, yes, I would like one day to come back. We see the timing, like Daniel said.’

Pochettino is referring to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who he still enjoys a good relationship with despite Levy sacking him back in 2019.

‘You’re talking about two different sides, professional and personal and I’ve seen always the appreciation in between both,’ he said.

‘He is always there and he’s going to be there. It’s another thing to take professional decisions. It’s true after nearly six years with all that we lived together, it was tough because of all the ups and downs and emotional things that we lived.

‘I’ve seen always it’s difficult in football that that doesn’t affect all this type of situation in your relationship. For us, we split very well. One thing was professional, another personal and now, like the day after we left Tottenham, we keep always a very, very good relationship.’

Between his spells at Spurs and PSG, Pochettino told BT Sport in April 2020: ‘It was an amazing journey that finished the way no-one wanted it to finish.

‘But deep in my heart I am sure our paths will cross again. From the day I left the club, my dream is to be back one day and to try to finish the work we didn’t finish.

‘We were so close to winning the Premier League and Champions League.

‘Deep inside I want to go back because the fans are so special. Maybe in five years, maybe in 10 years, but before I die I want to manage Tottenham.’

Pochettino will be concentrating on his current role this week when USA take on Panama on Thursday in California.

The States have won their last four matches under Pochettino but have more challenging opponents to come when they meet Türkiye and Switzerland in friendlies in June.